Post written by VegBlogger. Follow me on Twitter.
Why it's Time to Bag the Plastic Bag
Are you still using plastic bags at the grocery store? If so, there has been no better time than now to dump them and start carrying your own reusable bags. There are some cities, stories and even entire countries that have already banned the plastic bags from being used. Why? Because they require a lot of resources to create, are harmful to the environment, and are rarely ever recycled. In fact, it's estimated that not even one percent of all the plastic bags used in America are recycled. The problem? Americans use around 100 billion each year!
Along with the environmental damage that the plastic bags cause during production (using oil, gas and other petrochemical additives to create), once discarded they often make their way into the oceans where they harm the ecosystem. Each year sea life are injured and killed from plastic bags. Sea turtles, for example, often mistake them for jelly fish and eat them, only to die from doing so.
Sure, the chemical companies that create them would have you believe they are great, but that's because they make loads of money from producing them each year. Check out this sales pitch for them, where they try to convince readers they are environmentally responsible by comparing them to paper bags (rather than people using re-usable ones).
Invest in about six reusable bags and keep them in your car. Use them for all your shopping needs and skip the bags even when you forget (this may get challenge, but meet it!). Often times the baggers at store are so "bag happy" that they want to double and triple bag everything, even things that have a handle and don't need a bag!
If by any chance you still end up with a few bags here and there be sure to recycle them by taking them back to stores, where they have bins for doing so. And don't opt for paper bags instead, that's also harmful to the environment and should be avoided.
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